Echoes in the Woods by Georgina Scott (ebook reader web txt) 📕

could see her torn knickers, her top and skirt ripped. He had a knife held to her throat, raping her.

John couldn’t believe what he was seeing, what he was hearing, when his senses came back to him he was about to smash a kitchen chair over Robin. “You do, she dies, I will cut her fucking throat!” pushing the knife deeper into her throat Faith gargled and groaned, she closed her eyes with tears streaming down her face. John was paralysed holding the chair in mid-air, he felt helpless as all he could do was watch his buddy raping his wife. When Robin finished they both fought and hard, with Robin getting the better of him and stabbing him in the shoulder, John fell back and banged his head against the kitchen cabinet.

Robin fled taking Mark with him. John managed to call the police and ambulance, not realising Mark was missing. He crawled up to Faith, hysterically kissing and touching her beautiful face, calling her name, desperately trying to get some kind of response from her. He heard sirens in the distance and then a screeching noise. When Robin fled with Mark, he left him in the middle of the road. Luckily the police officer who was driving was paying attention to the road, narrowly missing Mark, swerving into the verge.

John had to call his neighbour to come and take care of the boys whilst the paramedics stabilised Faith and saw to John’s injuries, then sped them away at high speed. The police in hot pursuit of Robin, with dogs picking up his scent and trail, they followed him through the woods onto the fen road. They managed to pick him up two miles down the road trying to thumb a lift. They found the knife Robin threw away down by the creek, two hours after that.

The intensity of Faith’s injuries had her laid up for weeks; as well as the cuts and bruising she had a broken jaw, a cut to her throat. Fortunately the knife was blunt and didn’t penetrate too deeply, two cracked ribs, a fractured wrist, concussion, and she was pregnant; her parents came to stay and looked after them.

Faith was never well enough to testify in court so she had to be linked in via camera. Robin was sent to military prison for going AWOL and assault and battery on a fellow colleague, then from there he would be sent to a public prison to carry out the rest of his sentence of fifteen years.

Since that day John was a haunted man, a changed man, a rejected man.

Chapter 15

Tina comforted John during her twenty-minute break; he was pissed didn’t know what he was saying or doing and found himself the next morning waking up next to her. “Ah, shit,” John said under his breath. Quietly sneaking out of the bedroom with his clothes, he dressed, left a note for Tina saying, “Sorry, had to go, speak to you soon,” then headed for home.

Arriving at the farm, he saw that Faith was already up and about; the boys were still in bed. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Faith turned and looked at him, “Coffee?”

“Yes, please,” as he sat down. Faith turned and sat down with the coffees.

“Where have you been?” looking at him with all the hatred in the world.

“Pub.”

“What, all night?”

“No, woke up next to Tina,” saying that with a smug look, wanting to see her reaction.

“Fucked her, then?”

“Don’t know, don’t remember; woke up naked, she was also naked so I suppose, yes.”

“Bastard,” crossing her arms, giving him the dead eye.

“Oh, that’s rich coming from you. Mitch Moody; when did that start?”

“Eighteen months after Jake was born. We were in a dark place, still are and I ended it over a year ago now, but we had sex a few weeks ago.”

“Charming, a full blown affair all this time; I am a bloody fool,” running his hand throw his hair.

“No. Not a full-blown affair. We got close; he attended to my injuries, initially from Robin and now he attends to my injuries from you.”

“So what, am I supposed to be grateful?”

“No, just trying to be honest. How about you do the same. You knew Robin was a monster but you, you turned into my nightmare. That man tore us apart and you let him and you’re still letting him. You blamed Jake and took your anger out on an innocent boy who knows nothing about what happened and you blamed me as well; that’s why you drink, that’s why you hurt me.”

“That’s not fair, that’s really not fair, and I have never blamed you.”

“Yes, you do. You think I caused that situation, that somehow it was my fault. You invited that bastard into our home. I told you, time and time again, the things he was doing, that he frightened me and you chose to ignore me.”

“I thought you were being dramatic, reading into things that weren’t there. You’re always moaning and whining about something. When I was around, you seemed to get along fine, there was no indication, with no sign of what happened was going to happen.”

“Dramatic, moaning, whining? Is that all you see?”

“No, you suffocate me Faith, I have always loved you, I have always been faithful, but you have broken me, I have never felt good enough for you, nothing is good enough for you and it’s easier to always blame our troubles on that day,” said John.

“John, that’s not true. You treat me more badly than a beaten dog.”

“You wanted to be honest, now let’s be honest. Our marriage is over and I want you out, gone today.”

“You what? What about the boys? I am their mum and they need me, you’re the one that’s leaving, John?”

“I think not. This is my house and my farm and the boys will stay here with me. Go to your parents, go and see Jake. Say goodbye to the boys and I want you gone. If you’re here when I get back,